Chapter 5

Enjoy!

His eyes showed pure delight as he slashed his sword again. He laughed at the sound of blood falling on the floor into the puddle already formed by previous bloodshed.

What was he thinking? Trailing someone. He was better than that. Which was why he had come up with this idea. A message. A message to her.

Her. His prey. He was unhappy with his prey. She seemed to outthink him at every turn and disappear just when he found her. But it wasn't that. He had come to be more obsessed with his prey because of her awesome traits to vanish into thin air. It was another thing that he was unhappy with her about.

There was another man involved. And that just couldn't do. Wouldn't do. She was his prey. His possession. No other man's.

And she would know this, he thought, as soon as he had her in his grasp.

He pulled on a rope a little harder then slashed his sword again, closing his eyes at the sound of the blood spattering. He breathed in the confection that the scent of the blood had and exhaled in bliss.

It was almost as perfect as she smelled…

Xiao Qiao woke up in her bed with a jolt. She sat up in a flash and quickly looked around her temporary room.

There were two things she knew. One, it was morning. She didn't need to look in a mirror to know that. She could feel it with a familiar awareness like Da Qiao could feel when it was night.

Second, she knew something wasn't right. That something that wasn't right, was also the reason that she woke up the way she did. Her instincts were screaming at her to get up and see what was wrong. And if she didn't, well, she didn't want to think about that.

Xiao looked around the room before she stared at the door. She narrowed her eyes and slowly crawled out of the bed without making a single sound. She slinked to the door and put her back to it before listening for anything out of the ordinary.

She didn't hear anything and that made her narrow her glowing eyes again. What was she feeling?

She twisted onto the wall beside the door and cracked it open to see on the other side. She saw nothing that was out of the ordinary so she opened it wider, not making a squeak, and snuck into the hallway.

She slowly made her way to Zhou Yu's room using all the caution she could while making her way over there. If he was the reason she was waking up, she didn't want him to know she was up.

She looked at the knob on the door and knew it was locked. She just had a feeling. So she knelt down to where the keyhole was, and looked through. Zhou Yu was laying on the bed, his chest rising and falling in even breaths.

Xiao Qiao stepped away from the door with a confused look. She slowly made her way down the rest of the hall, checking room after room before she came to the open quarters. She looked around, her trained eyes leaving nothing unturned before she looked at the door that led into the corridor.

She looked back at Zhou Yu's door before walking across the floor, a few slow steps at a time. She opened the door to the hallway just a little before fully opening it and stepping out in the hallway.

Instantly, her instincts spiked, sending her heart at a sharp race. The hallway was dark due to the only thing lighting the basement was blazers that were dying from lack of attention during the night.

She looked both ways, listening for something, anything that could tell her why her instincts were so high. She stuck to the wall behind her and slowly made her way down the hallway.

Something wasn't right. She could feel that down to her very molecule. An icy chill went down her spine. Someone was in the hall with her.

She could feel they were in the hallway straight ahead of her, in the shadows that the dull blazers couldn't touch. She hurriedly crouched and rolled to the other side of the hallway, her back landing against the wall. She could feel that they were getting closer, and she slowly raised up on the wall, keeping close to the corner she would jump around to ambush them.

Her heart raced, adrenaline pumped through her blood. She felt them getting closer, and closer…

Then she struck.

Her arm flew out to hit them, but was caught immediately on her wrist.

"It's me." Da Qiao said indifferently, looking everywhere down the surrounding hallways.

"You feel it too?" Xiao asked, dropping her attack when Da released her wrist.

"Yes. I came this way to make sure you were okay." Da Qiao looked Xiao over before taking a breath. "I don't like this. We are in a closed basement with a possible assassin on the loose. This isn't exactly my preferred type of working conditions."

Xiao grinned. "What? Don't like the competition, Da?"

Da just glared at her.

Xiao got serious. "Okay. We both feel something's wrong. The question is, What?"

Da shook her head. "I don't know. But maybe we should go analyze the body of that maid. If we see how she died, maybe we determine if it was by an assassin or not."

"Hmm. Good idea. Just one problem. We are being kept an eye on. Don't you think it will look just a little tiny bit suspicious if we aren't there when they wake up?" Xiao said with her arms crossed.

Da shrugged. "The other maids will be up shortly and will see to their needs. We could say we were helping to serve breakfast. The cook is a little old anyway so she's getting quite forgetful. Also, we are stay maids. We only are there to serve them if they need us during the night."

Da Qiao turned to Xiao with a bland smile. "And it is clearly morning."

"Did the prince need you during the night?" Xiao asked with a smile.

Da Qiao looked away from her to the corridor. "He slept…rather soundly." Da Qiao had woken up to her gut telling her something wasn't right. When she saw she was in the arms of Sun Ce, the person she was supposed to kill, she was more than shocked.

But also, and she may never admit it to anyone, she was a little bit thrilled.

Xiao's eyebrows came together. "Oh? Did you put poison in something?"

"No." Da sighed. "At least, not yet."

The thunder rolled again, making Xiao remember Da's fear of storms.

"How are you taking the storm?" She asked.

Xiao could have swore Da blushed. "I… I am taking it very well." Da managed to spit out.

Xiao narrowed her glowing eyes at Da but didn't push it. "So, how do we get passed the gates?"

"Well, there are tons of closets down here that I'm sure have some guard uniform we can use. And if not, we can always take out a few patrolling guards, yes?" Da said with a smile.

Xiao smiled. "And our excuse to getting over to the other side?"

"I'm sure your quick wit can come up with something."

"It's kind of creepy that we are talking about examining a body and thinking about adding more bodies to the total like it is a normal, everyday experience." Xiao observed.

Da smiled again. "Indeed."

"Ahh." Xiao sighed contently before she started walking down the corridor. "I love what we do."

That remark caused Da to laugh as she followed a stretching Xiao down the hallway.

Zhou Yu woke up and pulled the covers off of him before leaning over the side of the bed. He rubbed his face with his hands before he sighed, stood up, and walked out of the room shirtless.

He went into the bathing chamber and washed his face. He walked out of the bathing chamber wiping his face with a cloth, when he realized that Aurora's door was slightly open. His eyebrows came together in confusion and he made his way over to her door carefully.

When he got about a foot from the entrance, he stopped.

"Aurora?"

Thunder was the only thing that answered him. He stepped forward and pushed the door open all the way and looked into the room. He saw that the bed wasn't made and none of her clothes were out.

He pulled back, completely puzzled now, and threw the cloth aside as he made his way around his quarters. He checked his study, incase she was raiding his files, and didn't see any sign of human activity anywhere. He started hurriedly looking everywhere in his chambers for her.

He found nothing.

He opened the door that led into he open corridor and looked both ways. He turned and started half walking half running down the hallway.

He turned a corner, and nearly ran into Sun Ce.

Thunder rumbled.

Sun Ce, shirtless also, looked at Zhou Yu for a moment. "Is Aurora in your room?"

Zhou Yu raised an eyebrow at the question. "No. I take it that Selene isn't in your room?"

Sun Ce shook his head as he looked down the surrounding corridors for any sign of the missing maids.

"No. I woke up and she was gone." That wasn't a lie. The thing was, Sun Ce woke up because when he reached for Selene subconsciously in his sleep, he only caught empty blankets. What disturbed him, was that he reached for her, as if it were a natural occurrence and she should be there.

"Do you think they went to help with the serving?" Zhou Yu asked.

Sun Ce looked at him incredulously with an eyebrow raised.

"That's a no." Zhou Yu sighed. "Where do you think they went?"

"I don't know." Sun Ce ran a hand through his hair. "Where would you go if you were an assassin?"

Zhou Yu pondered this for a moment. "Do you think that they went to check out the body?"

Sun Ce shrugged. "Why would they?"

"To see if there was another assassin?" Zhou Yu suggested with his eyebrows raised. "If what we thought last night is right, they would be a little weary of other assassins, don't you think?"

Sun Ce nodded. "I guess that's a place to start." He said before turning and walking towards that direction at a brisk pace.

"How would they get past the gates?" Zhou Yu asked, walking beside Ce.

"She single-handedly got passed all three of our gates and infiltrated our 'impossible to break into' castle. I think the two of them together can come up with something to get them past one." Sun Ce said and looked at Zhou Yu.

Yu nodded. "Point taken."

Sun Ce sighed and pulled another hand through his hair before pulling it up into a ponytail.

Zhou Yu looked at Sun Ce with an eyebrow raised, noticing Sun Ce's unusual mood.

"Did everything go alright last night, Ce?" Zhou Yu cautiously asked.

Sun Ce just sighed again and rubbed his face.

Now Zhou Yu was really worried. "What happened?"

Sun Ce let out a breath. "I slept with her."

Zhou Yu's eyes widened and he stopped walking. "Excuse me?"

Sun Ce groaned. "Not like that! She's got this fear of storms, right? And we were arguing again and… and it just… happened!" Sun Ce started walking again, prompting Zhou Yu to.

Thunder rolled.

"What do you mean, Ce? You aren't making sense." Zhou Yu said, trying to rationalize what exactly Ce was saying.

"Hold up." Sun Ce said as they approached the gate that separated the maids from the lords. He nodded to the guards who turned and opened the door for him and Zhou Yu.

As soon as they were out of earshot from the guards, Ce talked.

"We were having another collision, or the start of one, when the storm acted up. She apparently has this fear of storms and she was cowering from it, Yu. I mean what else was I supposed to do?"

Sun Ce breathed out loudly again. "So, before I knew what I was doing, I was carrying her to my bed. I fell asleep holding her."

Zhou Yu shook his head. "You were playing with fire, Ce. Didn't you think she would try to kill you?"

"No." Ce said. "She fell asleep first."

At that statement, Zhou Yu raised both his eyebrows. "She fell asleep?"

Sun Ce nodded.

"Interesting." Was all Zhou Yu said.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Sun Ce breathed in deeply. "So, what about you? Anything interesting to report?"

"Your father asked me to reconsider doubling your personal guard." Zhou Yu said with a smirk.

Sun Ce groaned.

"I can only hold him off for so long, Ce. He is the ruling monarch."

"I'll make him stop. Just not right now. I'm not in my right mind."

"It shows."

"Thanks." Sun Ce said with a smirk. "So, anything interesting happen with Aurora?"

"She got hurt last night by a rose vase that broke, due to the storm I believe. I had to pull the glass out and bandage it." Zhou Yu said, talking over the noise of the storm.

Sun Ce looked at him expectantly while they walked.

"What?" Zhou Yu asked.

"There's more to that story, buddy."

"What makes you think that?" Zhou Yu raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, this must be good. You are trying to be evasive." Sun Ce said with a grin. "I can only imagine what our little assassin did."

"If you must know, I recited her some poetry and nearly kissed her but your brother showed up and interrupted it." Zhou Yu said with a hint of annoyance.

Sun Ce threw his head back. "I'm beginning to think he's got a natural born talent for that. Infuriating isn't it?"

Zhou Yu said nothing.

Sun Ce stopped Zhou Yu with a hand on his shoulder and his trademark grin. "Welcome to the dark side, buddy."

Zhou Yu glared at him and opened his mouth to retort but stopped when they heard a commotion in a room not too far away.

"What was that?" Zhou Yu asked.

Sun Ce's eyes hardened and he started running towards the sound. "I don't know, but we better find out. If I'm right, that's coming from the closet the maid was murdered in."

The guard stared into the surrounding area for the hundredth time. He shifted on his feet and yawned again. He had been standing post at the door that the dead maid was in for the last two hours with his partner, and was hungry, tired, and his feet were sore.

He and his partner heard footsteps coming and stood attentive. They saw two guards, smaller than usual, come towards them.

"Are you the replacements?" His partner asked.

One of them nodded.

"Good! I'm starving!" He said before motioning to his partner. "Let's go get some food and see if we can find a woman."

The two guards moved so the replacements could stand post. When the replacements took their stances however, one of them nearly dropped their spears, and had to grip it with two hands to keep it from falling.

One of the guards looked at the replacement guard but just walked away, shaking his head.

As soon as the two guards were gone, the two replacements nodded to each other and slipped into the room. As soon as they closed the door behind them, they started peeling clothing off.

"Why didn't you get a smaller spear?" Da Qiao hissed at Xiao.

"I didn't know they had one!" Xiao protested as she took the armor off. "How did you manage to balance yours?"

"Because I got a smaller one!" Da said sarcastically and waved the smaller spear in Xiao's face.

Xiao glared at Da and put her mask that covered everything but her eyes on. She was dressed in all black head to toe. It was easy to blend in the already dark basement when wearing black. The outfit was also the only time Da wore pants.

"What happened to your hand?" Da asked, looking at the bandage.

"Oh…" Xiao smiled sheepishly. "I tripped on a candlestick that had fallen over from the storm and a vase broke close to my hand. I had glass in it. Zhou Yu pulled it out and bandaged it." Xiao tried not to think of what nearly happed when the bandaging was done.

At that statement, Da stopped her movements of putting a glove on. She looked at Xiao with an eyebrow raised. "He bandaged it himself?"

"Umm hmm." Xiao said as she nodded.

"Hmm." Was Da's only response to that. "Put a glove on. If he sees you and recognizes your bandage, it will blow our cover."

Xiao nodded and did as she was told.

"Okay." Da said and let out a sigh before turning towards the maid's body that was on a bed with a sheet over it. "Let's do this."

She walked a few feet before she realized Xiao wasn't following her. She turned to see Xiao standing where she had last seen her, looking indecisive.

"What's wrong?" Da asked her.

"Do I really have to examine the body? You remember the last time I examined one. Isn't there something else I could do?" Xiao asked pleadingly.

Da sighed. "If we knew where they were storing their files, you could go there and see if they have any dirt on Wei. Seeing as we don't know… why don't you go and check out the room that the murder happened in? There might be a few things there that the regular guard detail missed."

Xiao Qiao beamed. "Now that I can do!"

"Do you need help getting by the guards posted there?"

Xiao waved a hand of dismissal as she turned toward the door. "Nah."

"Then dispose of those guard suits. If you need help, send out the signal." Da said as she pulled the sheet off the maid.

Xiao looked away quickly and picked up the guard suits before disposing of them. She cracked the door open and looked both ways before slipping out.

Da Qiao watched her go before she looked down at the body.

"I'm so sorry…" She said. Then she started her examination.

Xiao Qiao slinked down the darkened corridor, keeping close to the shadows as she did. More than likely, there would be patrols coming through because these areas were so important.

Her facial expression turned into one of confusion as she looked for the door. If what she heard from the other maids was right, it wasn't too far from where the body was placed.

She smelled the blood before she reached the room. She slowed her pace and slid across the wall to the corner without making a sound.

She slowly turned looked around the corner to the door and was surprised to see no guards posted and the door open.

Her eyebrows coming together in cute confusion, she turned the corner, looking both ways, and approached the doorway. She could see the blood from where she stood, several feet away, and its odor got stronger as she came closer.

She looked around the room before entering it with caution. Her instincts blared at her that something wasn't right. She took a deep breath and studied the blood on the floor.

There was so much of it!

She looked around the rest of the room, trying to put together what exactly happened. She looked at the blood pattern again and looked at it very closely, crouching down to it, before something hit her…

This blood was fresh!

A drop from above her fell into the puddle in front of her. Xiao froze. Slowly, she looked up.

And what she saw took her breath away.

There, on the ceiling of the closet, were the two bodies of the guards who Xiao supposed was posted at the door. They had been tied there, arms stretched out, blood still dripping from the multiple wounds on their bodies.

Xiao, eyes wide, stood with a hand going to her mouth in shock. She stood there for a breathless minute, staring at the massacre above her.

Suddenly, she felt something coming at her from her back.

She turned with speed brought on by years of training and deflected the fist aimed at her head. She knocked the fist off target before spinning and grabbing the other person's neck in the crook of her elbow. She kicked their foot out from underneath them and with their equilibrium easy to control for her, she used the leverage that the grip of their neck gave her and sent them reeling to the floor.

She turned, ducked and rolled to dodge any move they would have countered at her. She stopped rolling and crouched with her hand between her legs on the floor. She looked at her attacker and noticed they were dressed in the same manner she was.

The other assassin took their time getting up. Acting as if it were a practice session. They stood at their full height and Xiao realized it was a man.

He turned to Xiao's glowing eyes and she noticed his eyes were very blue. A cold, calculating, icy blue.

"Hello, Deceiving Rose." He said in a raspy voice and Xiao saw the smile in his eyes.

Her eyes narrowed at the casual mention of her guild name. She was about to ask him how he knew it, but he jumped at her.

He struck a kick at her head but she easily dodged it, moving to kick his foot from under him. He somersaulted backwards, trying to kick Xiao in the process. She barely dodged it this time, and felt the wind from his kick on her face.

The assassin landed but kept rolling backwards till he landed on his feet and sprang towards Xiao who was already charging him. He struck out a punch that she again deflected and kicked his abdomen. She kicked his chest then his face, hearing a sickening crunch, and sent him back down to the floor.

She went to kick his face, which was now bloodied, but he rolled out of the way and into the blood on the other side of the closet. Xiao was charging at him but he recovered faster than she suspected he would, and he struck out a foot that landed in her chest, sending her to the floor and skidding back a few feet.

She recovered quickly and tried to strike with her hands but he caught it and twisted it. Xiao refused to cry out from the pain that the twist gave her and give him pleasure. She flipped backwards, effectively undoing the twist, and struck out with her other hand.

The assassin dropped one hand and grabbed her other. Her injured one.

Xiao cried out and was momentarily paralyzed at the pain that his viselike grip on her hand caused. The assassin's eyes were confused for a minute and gripped her hand harder, experimenting. Xiao cried out again in pain and his eyes showed pure delight.

Xiao's eyes hardened and she went to strike with her other hand but he grabbed her hand harder, causing her to drop her attack at the pain that shot up her arm. She looked at the assassin with tears in her eyes and her anger flared. Her eyes turned to steel and she was about to attack again.

Suddenly, the assassin went forward with excessive force, dropping her hand. He fell onto the floor and skidded several feet and into the shelves on the opposite side of the wall.

Da Qiao dropped in between Xiao and the other assassin in a crouch, one leg sticking straight out to the other side, one hand on the floor and the other ready to strike.

Xiao Qiao could feel the extreme anger radiating off of Da.

The assassin opened his eyes then shook his head because he was seeing double. He stood on shaky legs and turned back to the girl he was previously torturing. He stopped cold when he saw another girl in front of her.

Her eyes didn't glow as bright as her companions, but they spoke of a green fire he could easily recognize.

Rage.

Rage at him. He was captured in a rush of fear at the death that those eyes promised for him.

And he doubted it would be quick and painless.

The girl whose hand he had cruelly gripped stood up and stood beside her companion. There was an anger in her eyes too because she had to be rescued. The assassin looked from one to another, suddenly unsure of the situation he was in and if he could get himself out.

Abruptly, they all looked at the doorway as they heard footsteps. The assassin took the opportunity to dash out the room. Xiao started to chase him but Da caught her arm.

"Let him go! We need to leave. Now." Da started to run out but stopped suddenly as a drop from the ceiling fell to the floor. She looked up and gasped at the sight on the ceiling. She was captured by the brutality clearly shown there.

The footsteps and voices projected Da back into motion. With Xiao beside her, she ran out of the room and down a opposite hallway than the footsteps.

"Da! It's Zhou Yu and the prince!" Xiao hissed in a whisper.

"What?" Da stopped her running and turned back in time to see Sun Ce and Zhou Yu approaching the bloody closet.

"They know we are gone." Xiao said while she held her injured hand that was throbbing.

Da looked at Xiao then down at her hand and pushed her back in the direction of the gate. "Come on. The maids should be up by now and the gates opened. I'll bandage that when we get back over."

Xiao glanced back one last time before running behind Da.

Sun Ce and Zhou Yu ran into the room before stopping immediately, widened eyes looking at the blood on the floor. They were both shocked by the sheer amount if it. There wasn't that much there yesterday.

Zhou Yu looked around and it didn't take him long to see the guard bodies on the ceiling.

"Ce…" He said in shock.

Sun Ce looked at Zhou Yu questioningly before following his friend's eyes to the ceiling. "Holy…"

"We need to tell Sun Jian." Zhou Yu said as he studied the bodies.

"Oh, yeah." Ce agreed, nodding. "There's no way Selene or Aurora did this, Yu. Even put together, I doubt they had the strength to lift one of the guards' bodies up. Much less two."

Zhou Yu nodded, taking his eyes off the bodies.

"Sun Ce," He said as he looked at the blood on the floor then the shelves on the opposite wall. "there has been a fight in here."

Sun Ce looked away from the guards and studied the room. "Your right."

He circled around to where he was at the mark in the blood pool and crouched to get a better look at it. "It's recent. The blood around it hasn't begun to set in yet."

"Could it be from the guards?" Zhou Yu asked with his eyebrows together in confusion.

Sun Ce looked at the shelves. "I couldn't say for that. But this mark in the blood isn't. It has just happened. See?" He pointed around it. "The blood hasn't even set in yet."

"Then who…?"

Zhou Yu and Sun Ce both made eye contact.

"We haven't found Selene…"

"Aurora hasn't been found…"

Sun Ce shot up off the floor. "Let's alert Pop. He will be busy looking at that. It will give us enough time to search the basement for them."

"Indeed." Zhou Yu said as he walked with Ce, keeping up with his fast pace. "Perhaps we should get shirts first?"

"Okay, there's definitely another assassin." Xiao said as she and Da walked through the corridor. They were both back in their maid uniforms and Xiao was holding her injured hand. Da Qiao was carrying supplies to bandage it over with.

Da Qiao stayed silent walking beside her.

Xiao looked at her to try to decode her facial expression but Da was an expressionless mask.

Xiao glanced away. "I wonder what he's here for…"

"Here." Da finally spoke as she led Xiao to a little bench and made her sit. "It's in the middle of both rooms. If someone were to look for us, they would find us here."

"Did you find anything on the body?" Xiao asked as Da unwrapped her hand.

"The injury that killed her was a cut to her throat. It bled a lot. He meant it to or he would have just broken her neck. It was an injury to be easily noticeable and leave an impression."

"A distraction." Xiao concluded.

"Correct. Or at least I would say so." Da said as she focused on her work.

"He called me by my guild name, Da." Xiao said as she looked at her sister.

"He what? Are you sure?" Da's eyes were shocked.

Xiao nodded. "Positive. He knew who I was. It's like he was waiting for me"

"He knows we are here. That means that the guard bodies are a message." Da's eyes hardened.

"What could it mean?" Xiao asked.

"I don't know Xiao. I didn't look closely. When I heard you crying out in pain…" Da shook her head.

"Yeah." Xiao thought about his eyes again. Both of them showing him taking pleasure at her pain. It was unnerving and disgusting.

She thought about Zhou Yu. His dark eyes were full of concern. His touch was tender, gentle and didn't hurt her. He was careful in everything he had done when tending to her wounds.

A small smile crossed her face as she remembered his niceness to her. Then she remembered the spell he had cast on her, his voice like a chant, as he had said his poem to her. Every word that came out of his mouth was rich and spellbinding with his hypnotizing brown eyes that seemed to want to devour her very soul as he spoke words so enchanting that she couldn't even remember them all. And then, the small caress of a flower. The touch so intoxicating that it had stolen the breath from her body.

Then, the final ingredient in his spell: his kiss.

Xiao Qiao jumped as she recalled just how close that had come. She looked up to see Da Qiao looking at her questioningly.

"Umm, Da? I have to tell you something?" Xiao said quietly.

"What, Xiao?" Da's eyes were concerned, but not angry.

"It's about last night." Da Qiao raised an eyebrow at that statement, making Xiao nervous. "After Zhou Yu bandaged my hand. You see, he-"

"Why aren't you two helping the other maids clean the rooms?"

Both sisters looked up to see the headmistress stomping towards them, face flustered.

Da spoke up. "My lady, my sister's hand-"

"You both deliberately disobeyed my order!" the headmistress yelled. "You leave without telling anyone, and now you dare to sit there and try to make excuses?"

Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao just looked at her in shock.

"There will be punishment for this! And punishment will begin immediately-"

"There will be no punishment issued." Said a stern voice.

All three girls turned and saw Zhou Yu and Sun Ce standing a few feet away.

Da Qiao locked eyes with the man who she had untangled herself from that morning. His eyes scanned her before coming back up and staring into her eyes. Da Qiao felt herself stop breathing, and her heart raced. She felt her eyelids close over her eyes as she slowly looked down his body. The body that held her and sheltered her from the storm during the night.

When her eyes finally traveled back to his, there was a fire in his eyes. He swallowed before looking away with a deep, ragged breath.

"The sisters were with us during the morning." Zhou Yu continued. "That is why they were not with the rest cleaning."

Da and Xiao made eye contact in shock. Had Zhou Yu really just covered for them?

The headmistress looked shocked and blushed a little at Zhou Yu's reprimand, making Xiao resist the urge to snort.

The mistress then looked at Sun Ce for confirmation and at Ce's nod, she bowed.

"Please forgive me, lords. I did not know. I was just worried about them wandering around alone, with the recent attack." She bowed again, this time really low.

Zhou Yu opened his mouth to speak, but Sun Ce beat him to it. "That's understandable. In fact, I agree with you." Sun Ce's glance flickered to Zhou Yu. "I think it would be best if we made Selene and Aurora our primary maids for the time being, don't you, Zhou Yu?"

Zhou Yu looked at Ce incredulously but then Ce's logic dawned on him. A smile crossed his face. "Indeed."

Xiao's eyes widened in shock and she whirled to look at Da. Da Qiao, however, was tightlipped. Xiao knew she was angry again.

Da's eyes met Ce's and he smirked at her, causing her eyes turn to green steel.

That cocky, arrogant Prince! She really didn't have time to shadow him everywhere! She had plans to find, and not to mention she had to kill him. On top of everything there was another assassin on the loose who had left them a cryptic message that she needed time to think about and decode.

She really didn't have time for this. She turned back to Xiao and started back on her work on Xiao's hand, her lips about to crack from how hard she was pressing.

The headmistress blinked at the request. "Well… if you are sure, my lord."

"Positive." Ce said, not taking his eyes off of Selene.

"Very well." The headmistress then turned to Selene and Aurora, but her gaze zeroed in on Aurora. "I hope you know the extreme gift you have been given." Her eyes on Xiao narrowed. "You must have made a very positive impression."

Did Xiao imagine the double meaning in that last sentence? Xiao's eyes narrowed back, and it took every fiber in Xiao's being not to jump and knock the headmistress back into the opposite wall.

The headmistress must have noticed the murder in Xiao's eyes because she stepped back quickly. "I'll… get the paperwork on that done." She said and briskly walked away.

As soon as she was a few feet away, Xiao stuck her tongue out at the headmistress's back. Da Qiao's eyes widened and she slapped Xiao's uninjured hand with a glare.

A chuckle caused Da to look up to see Ce looking at her. She turned a dark smile to him. "Please, my lord, my sister's hand wound has reopened. Please give me time to tend to it, then I will follow you."

Sun Ce answered by sitting down on the bench on the opposite side of the wall, Zhou Yu joining him. He stayed looking at Da.

Xiao Qiao, however, was still glaring into the direction the headmistress had left. "By the way she gets so jealous about any maid talking to Zhou Yu, you would think she was his primary maid!" She whispered harshly to Da so Ce and Yu wouldn't hear.

"She was." Da answered simply as she finished the salve and started wrapping Xiao's hand back up.

"Really?" Xiao asked shocked. Da nodded. "How do you know?"

"Mei Mei likes to talk." Da answered.

Xiao fell silent, giving Da time to think while she worked. If she couldn't investigate during the day, she would have to do it during the night. But he probably would keep a bigger eye on her now. That meant she would need him in a deep sleep that lasted through the night, so he wouldn't wake up and come looking for her.

She would have to give him some of her poison. Not enough to kill him, just to put him to sleep. Then she could spend her time immersed in her beloved night doing her business.

A small smile curled at her lips. She was going to best this Prince.

Vibrations were felt through the floor and thunder peeled again. All four looked up, having totally forgotten the storm.

"Sis?"

At the sound of Xiao's voice, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu looked down to see Xiao looking at Da. Da Qiao was looking at the ceiling with wide, fearful eyes.

Xiao's uninjured hand reached out and grabbed on of Da's. Da Qiao looked down at Xiao and her sister flashed her an encouraging smile. It took a moment, but a small smile came across Da's face. She pulled her hand from Xiao's and started wrapping Xiao's hand again.

Zhou Yu looked over at Sun Ce in time to see him sit back down. Zhou Yu hadn't noticed but Ce had stood up when he had seen Selene's fearful gaze directed at the ceiling.

Zhou Yu looked at him with an eyebrow raised. Sun Ce just shrugged and shook his head, releasing a breath as he did so, before looking back at Selene.

Sun Ce studied her as she worked on her sister's hand. Her eyebrows came together the slightest bit as she thought some extreme matter over. It was so different from how she slept. When she slept, she was relaxed, and held some childlike innocence.

Sun Ce leaned with his elbows on his knees and looked at his hands. He was disturbed by waking up reaching for her. Even more disturbed by how concerned he was when he realized she was no where to be found.

She had trusted him in her time of need, though. That's what kept jerking at his heart. She fell asleep in his arms, knowing she would be vulnerable and he could kill her so easily while she was in that state.

And yet, she had trusted him not to.

He looked up when he saw fabric before him. There, bowing, was Selene. As soon as she came up from her bow, she looked into his eyes with a hint of something.

A challenge. Her eyes were telling him that he didn't know what he had got himself into.

"I am yours to control, my lord." she said with another dark smile.

Oh, how her comment was pregnant with meaning…

Oddly enough, he felt a smirk pulling at his lips. He stood up to his full height, letting her know just how powerful he was. That she was the one who didn't know what they had gotten themselves into.

Da Qiao needed no demonstration. She looked at his chest, and remembered the hard muscle that was underneath that shirt. The man radiated pure strength. He represented the tiger that his family held so highly.

She looked back up into his eyes, she had to lean her head back to, and saw a cocky grin on his face. Almost a predatory grin.

She would learn one thing before the day was though:

He liked a challenge.

Zhou Yu raised an eyebrow at the scene. He wondered if Ce knew exactly what he was getting into.

Zhou Yu turned to see Xiao bounce a bow to him before raising up and flashing him a smile. She was going to constantly be there, smiling like that, all day.

He then wondered if he knew what he had gotten himself into by agreeing to this…

The assassin looked in the mirror and turned absolutely livid as he looked at his face.

The bitch had branded him!

He pulled a cloth out and started to wipe away the blood. His movements were precise but held true to the aggravation and anger that showed in his eyes.

Suddenly, those precise movements stopped. He stared at the mirror for a long, thoughtful moment.

Then a smile, one that no one would want to know the meaning of, crept onto his face. Though his eyes still held tinges of anger in them, a calmness now replaced the aggravation.

He was done trying to play nice with his prey. He was done trying to tell her that he was the man she wanted.

If she could not see simple logic… then he would have to show it to her. And he would enjoy doing it.

He hoped she gotten his message loud and clear, because he was coming after her. He would have to wait, he already knew this. But he was definitely going to find her and let her know that he was everything that other man could never be. That she wasn't even worthy of the greatness that was him.

And after he had her where he wanted her… he would brand her for his own.

Forever.

Got venom dripping from my lips, know who you're about to kiss

Think that you can handle this, boy, it's on

That bad girl power I got, I'll abuse it tonight

'Cause tonight, got poison on my mind…

Okay, let's face the facts. I, ShadowingPassion, cannot write a short chapter to save my life. I seriously thought this one was going to be short when I had it all mentally written down. Then, I typed and realized that, nope, it wasn't. I will seriously try to work on an intervention if it bothers you guys too much.

The closing lyrics are "Poison" by Nicole Scherzinger. So, anyone wanna place bets on what will happen next?

If I don't get back to your review for awhile, please forgive me. I will be busy for awhile, and I honestly don't know when I will be able to access the internet. However, I will get back to you. Promise!

And, yes, I will eventually update Are You Jealous Yet. My tastes have just been a little dark lately.

ShadowingPassion9532